Three Tiny Little Points = One Huge Impact

Who has time to spend hours and hours thumbing through auricular therapy books to find helpful little jewels of information to use in their practice? Not you???

I completely understand. Dr. Larsen has taken care of that problem for you. He pays ME to do all of the research so that I can help you to become a better practitioner.

A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to an acupuncturist, Susannah Sunderland from Carlsbad, California, who sold 600 acupuncture sessions through a local Groupon in her community. That’s a lot of acupuncture sessions!

She called me to ask questions about the AcuGraph system, but instead our phone call turned into me asking her a ton of questions about how she managed to take care of so many new patients. She said that it was overwhelming and she is not sure if she would do it again, but that she learned a lot about herself and her abilities as a practitioner.

One of the things that stuck out in our conversation was the respect that she had gained for auriculotherapy.

Susannah said that she treated three auricular points on every patient and that those points alone set the foundation for the work that needed to be done in each treatment. What were those points?

Shen Men

Point Zero

Sympathetic Autonomic Point

I did a little bit of research into our Auriculo 3D program and my research notes and found some interesting facts about those three points.

#1: Shen Men is the point that is MOST popular in the Auriculo 3D protocols.

Of the 180 protocols that are listed in Auriculo 3D, 164 of them have Shen Men listed as a recommended treatment point. What makes Shen Men so powerful? Shen Men is a Master Point. Master points are always electrically active in comparison to other points on the ear.

In fact, if you are having a hard time finding active treatment points, treat Shen Men first and then the points that need treatment will become active.

Shen Men, also known as Divine Gate, is so powerful that it treats almost everything–stress, anxiety, depression, inflammatory diseases, etc.

When I have a patient that just keeps talking and I can’t get them to calm down, I immediately treat Shen Men in their ear. I also like to send patients home with seeds at Shen Men, if they are prone towards anxiety and stress, along with instructions to press the seeds multiple times per day while doing some deep breathing. Patients love it when you offer them a simple tool for de-stressing.

#2: Point Zero is a centering point.

Dr. Paul Nogier had a background as a civil engineer before he became famous for developing Auriculotherapy in France. I am sure that you are familiar with the inverted fetus drawn on the ear depicting the anatomical mirror imagine used for treatment purposes.

While drawing zones throughout the body, Nogier learned that Point Zero was actually the geometrical and physiological center point on the humunculus of the ear–and aligns with the solar plexus.

It’s no wonder Point Zero is known for bringing the body back into homeostatic balance. This point not only balances energy, but is also used to regulate the brain, viscera, and the hormones.

I like to use Point Zero when a patient comes in with an array of symptoms and I don’t know exactly where to start. Patients who have trouble staying centered get sent home with a seed at this point for home care.

#3: Sympathetic Autonomic Point brings a patient back to relaxation mode.

Do you remember learning about the Sympathetic versus the Parasympathetic nervous systems?

Too many of our patients choose to live in a constant sympathetic nervous system state. The sympathetic nervous system was designed to jump start our bodies into fight or flight mode for survival purposes. Basically, our digestive and organ functions shut down so that we can save ourselves during emergency situations.

Parasympathetic mode, on the other hand, is where we should be most of the time. This is where our body regenerates and heals. When someone comes in for acupuncture, it is our responsibility to help him or her to move back into parasympathetic function. The Sympathetic Autonomic Point will do exactly that.

While I was a student at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in San Diego, I had many opportunities to be involved in community acupuncture settings. One instance comes to mind. In 2007 I worked with fellow PCOM students at Qualcom Stadium to care for those who had been evacuated from their homes.

This was an instance where “fight or flight” mode was a necessary survival skill for many who were displaced during this stressful event. The Sympathetic Autonomic Point became a valuable resource.

This point is very powerful and, often, results can be felt immediately.

As you can see, Susannah made a very wise choice by adding these three points into each session. I really enjoyed talking to her about her experience which then reignited my passion for these three valuable points.

Can you see that nearly any health condition can be treated by this technique?

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Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.

Kimberly began her 2nd career when she earned her Masters of Science degree in traditional Oriental Medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego, CA in 2008. Today she is a Chinese Medicine practitioner specializing in acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and massage therapy. Kimberly treats the root of the disorder through an energetic approach that balances physical and emotional aspects of the patient.
Credentials
• Masters of Science – Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.
• Kimberly is a licensed acupuncturist in the state of Idaho.
• NCCAOM certified.
• Member of the Idaho Board of Acupuncture.
View all posts by Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.

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20 Replies to “Three Tiny Little Points = One Huge Impact”

Hi Kimberly, I´m an anestesist from Argentina and a novice practioner of Acuunture and Auriculoteraphy. I´m planning to attend to a Congress in NY in september. Do I have any chance to attend a seminar or practice with you?

I do these 3 pts quite frequently. I recently did them on a patient who had a stroke several years ago. She has done really well with body acupuncture, but since she was having issues with mood and memory, I decided to try them. She was very dizzy afterwards and didn’t feel like herself. It appears that she still hasn’t really recovered. Should I have NOT done ear acupuncture on her? What are your thoughts?

Good luck to you in your studies Carolyn. If you would like to know more about AcuGraph or other products that we offer, please visit our website. I highly suggest that you consider our Auriculo 3D program and Points PC. I helped to create both of these programs. My goal was to make them valuable to the practitioner once they finished school, but also a great resource for students. These will help you through your education.

Dear Kimberly I have been using my Acugraph for six months now and rely on its accuracy and wonderful user interface to keep my patients engaged in their progress. Also as a teaching tool to coach people how to reframe their health issues in energetic terms. So I am very grateful for all you guys have done…

One question (out of many I have) perhaps you could help me with. I notice almost all of my patients have excess readings on TB and LI, sometimes SI as well. How do you interpret this and explain it to patients? I have been suggesting it reflects an active immune system, or perhaps inflammation in the neck and shoulders, but am unsure what excesses in general reflect, as they can coincide with weak pulses in the same position. I find fairly frequent excess Kid. as well, and have been calling that adrenal stress, but is it?

I can’t resist a second question… Do you retest split readings as jake did/does? I think at least half my splits are coming from poor point location or some other practitioner error and have gotten in the habit of retesting all splits. But I wonder if I am getting true or spurious readings the second time because of the problems Dr. Larson mentioned about points holding charge after a reading is taken. What do you do about this?

I like to look at the TB, LI and SI as tendinomuscular problems–especially when they are all excess or split at the same time. Patients like it when I click on those channels and show them the pathway for each. All of them run though the shoulder. Often one side will be more predominant than the other and I can quickly guess which side hurts worse. Palpation along the TE channel usually confirms my suspicions. These patients are the ones that I choose to balance the graph with them lying face down and then I go in and do some ashi type of work for blockages in the channels. Cupping is awesome, and sometimes I’ll even hook them up to the e-stim machine to pulsate the blockages in the upper body.

As far as Kidney excess–I usually ask questions about Kidney yin deficiency. Remember in TCM when you learned that the Kidney couldn’t be excess, that it would always be deficient? In channel theory if the Kidney is “deficient” and not doing it’s job appropriately, the problems can manifest as excess types of symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, irritability, etc.

I always retest the split meridians! When Dr. Larsen talks about acupuncture points holding a charge, he is referring to measuring a single point over and over again. My experience with splits has been that I am slightly off of the the electrical center of the point when I measure the first time, and thus I get a split. If I go back and remeasure and a split does not show up, then I am really not measuring the same point again–but a slightly different location. We wouldn’t suggest measuring multiple times. Just go back for a quick check of the low side of split. I have had excellent results in treatment by using this method.

We welcome your questions Dr. Ben. Thanks for asking them on the forum. Questions like these help everyone to learn. Have a great day!

I am a massage therapist and am not able to do acupuncture however I have studied a lot and use micro-current for pain conditions and ear pressure a lot with positive results.

How can your products help my profession (clearly understanding it does not replace TCM and acupuncture)? I do refer to DOM often and would like to see these professions respectfully compliment each other to encourage clients to embrace alternative medicine.

You may be aware that I was a massage therapist before I became an acupuncturist. The two professions go very nicely together.

A few of our products come to mind that may be of value to you.

Points PC: This is a great program that helps you understand the flow of each meridian, with a study of the individual points and what they do. When I was a massage therapist, I used to feel “points” without knowing what they really were. My hands would often stop and linger over the area. My fingers would explore and feel. Patients would ask me what I was feeling. My answers was: “I don’t really know, but I”m going to find out some day.”

When I was in college and studied points, all the answers finally came. I was fascinated by studying the meridians and realizing that those little reactive spots on the body were real and they had purpose. When you study channels and points then everything begins to make sense.

AcuGraph: Once you understand channels pathways and points, you can utilize AcuGraph on multiple levels. AcuGraph measures electrical skin resistance at acupuncture points. This measurement helps the practitioner to know which channels are excess, deficient or imbalanced on the left/right. AcuGraph gives point suggestions to help create that balance. If I were a massage therapist, I would love knowing where those particular points were located and I would use pressure on them during my massage session to help put the body into balance.

While AcuGraph is made specifically for acupuncturists, there are some simple elements that can help a massage therapist to look deeper. You can look at a graph that shows the natural flow of energy in the body. A channel that is excess stops the proper flow. By knowing where the problem is (because of the pictures of the channels that show up in the program) I could focus my massage with the intent to clear blockages so that deficient areas get the energy they are lacking.

Auriculo 3D: You mention that you like to do ear pressure. The ear is filled with hundreds of specific point locations. If you had this resource you could fine tune your ear pressure by using specific points for specific conditions. Many massage therapists use a metal ear probe to “massage” the reactive points and get great results. No needles needed!

A good massage therapist is an acupuncturists best friend. I have many great massage therapists that I refer to on a regular basis. I especially like to refer to those who have a general knowledge of points and channels. When the massage therapists understands my language, it is really easy for me to refer and make recommendations based on channel imbalances that I’m trying to work on. The massage therapist can then compliment my work.

Best of luck to you MaryAnn. Please let me know if I can answer any further questions.

I would probably use the Qi Pulse–IF I were using laser. Typically I treat the ear with the Stimplus Pro because it is a point locator and I can find the electrically active point and then quickly treat. If I were only using laser, I’d use the RED Qi Pulse for sure.

I have an internal lump on my ear in the Shen Men region and I haven’t been very well and wondered if something wrong in this area could have a negative effect on ones well being? My apologies if this is the wrong place for this, I’m just trying to figure out what’s wrong with me.

If the lump is new and doesn’t resolve on its own, you should probably have it checked. I don’t expect the lump itself could have a negative effect, but it may indicate issues elsewhere in the body. Obviously, a lump is not, by itself, nearly enough to render a diagnosis, so if you are concerned, you should probably visit your practitioner.